Angels and Demons
by Neku the Last Reaper
Summary: When everything he knows is lost, one man must journey to find his family, his home, and the truth. But both the Heartless and the Nobodies will not let him escape so easily. KH/FFVII AU crossover. Rated T for mild language, and awesome fight scenes.
1. Prelude

**A/N:** Hi there everyone! I know I'm mostly known for my FFVII stories, but this is my first KH fic! The basic premise came about the other night when I bought Re:Chain of Memories last week. My mom, xLadyxLibertyx and I were chatting in the car. For a long time I wanted my favorite character to show up in the world of KH, so this is basically his saga. Don't worry, Sora and co will show up later on, but right now I had to get the setup. Oh and this was written prior to the release of KH: 358/2 so any inaccuracies of Xion are simply author's creative license. Oh and for some of the characters, their world of origin is AU since it wouldn't be exactly the same way if they were in KH.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts. All I own are the potential OCs that may spring up as minor characters.**

**---**

"_Vincent! Run!" Cloud shouted, blood dribbling over his lips._

_I gazed at him, "what about you?"_

"_Forget me! Hurry and run!" He shouted and shoved me away._

The mental image of the last few minutes continued to play over and over in my head. I wasn't sure what happened, but at the moment, it seemed to be rather bad. My eyes opened up slowly, I took a tally of my limbs. Both arms, both legs, body, and head, that was a relief. I forced myself to sit up, wherever I was, it certainly couldn't be called home. The town below me certainly couldn't be called any sort of comfortable place either. The town had cobbled streets, brownish and deep yellow buildings, and a large strange clock tower. My fingers stroked the handle of my large gun on my thigh.

_**Come on Vinny. Let's get moving. I sense something interesting up on the clock tower.**_

_Shut up Chaos,_ I mentally muttered to the voice in my head. But he did have a point. I couldn't spend my time lounging around on a rooftop. Slowly I leaped from rooftop to rooftop, people wouldn't be exactly healthy for me to be around right now, however I needed more information. I went up a hill and found myself at a train station, "Twilight Town train station," I muttered as I read the train schedule. "Five hundred Munny…" I frowned. I had none of the local currency to my name. I have, or rather had, multi-millions in Gil. But that would do me no good, and I didn't suspect that they had a currency exchange.

I continued to study the train schedule, when something collided with the back of my head. My body moved to try and intercept the item. One hand caught the object as it fell to the ground, while my eyes spotted a small figure in a black cloak. My brows furrowed, this figure had the most massive ears on the hood I had ever seen on something that small. My mind jumped instantly to that of a mouse. But this was impossible, mice couldn't walk, much less throw things.

_**Follow him, now! **_Chaos ordered me mentally.

The hooded mouse like person seemed to realize my, or at least Chaos's, intentions. The black-cloaked figure ran away hastily. I charged after, my longer legs should have overtaken the smaller figure in a few short steps, however no matter how fast I ran, my rodent friend stayed out of reach. The figure turned down an alley that led to a dead end. I drew my massive gun and pulled the safety off. My eyes narrowed as the figure turned, but at that moment I sensed an attack aimed at my head, I blocked a very odd sword from slicing off my head. The sword in question looked more like a bat wing growing from a fish than a normal sword.

The attacker swung again, I parried and pointed my gun at the head underneath the hood. My assailant had an identical cloak to that of my mouse friend. "Who are you?" I growled slightly.

"Same can be said for you old man. What should we do with him Your Majesty?" The taller figure asked the mouse man.

The small figure pulled back his hood and glanced around, I could feel my arm slacken. The one who threw the object clenched in my left fist was a mouse. Albeit no sort of mouse I had ever seen, with ears the size of dinner plates and eyes that reminded me of the Saturday morning cartoon characters my sister used to watch. "Leave him be Riku, he's the one who they want."

The hooded figure called Riku lowered his sword. My scowl intensified, "who are you, both of you?"

"That doesn't matter, we have to go," the mouse announced.

Chaos kicked me, _**move it!**_

I dove into a smooth roll as a large silver beast lunged at me. I spun on my heel, the silver beast that had attacked me twitched and spasmed. Its lips seemed to be a zipper, with a row of dark pointy teeth inside. A long series of claws grew from its bound up hands, and the tiny pointed feet started to move towards me. I stepped back and shot it, but the beast dodged it and lunged at me. I narrowly avoided the long claws and I darted out of the ally. One fluid movement propelled me up to the higher ground of the roof. The silver beast snaked after me, I whirled around and shot at it again, the beast bowed its head and I saw a strange marking on the head. The beast withered and then vanished in a swirling mass of light.

_**What in the world was that?**_ Chaos muttered.

"I don't know," I muttered. I noticed the sun sinking lower into the west. I supposed it would be night soon. I knew I couldn't afford a place to stay, but after how many times I'd been attacked, staying in the open wasn't an option. A loud bell caught my attention, the clock tower would be unoccupied and a decent place to hide out. Quickly as I could, I made my way passed shops and buildings, all the way to the clock tower. I opened up the door, and climbed up the stairs, passed the gears and chains, up to the clock face. I sat down and leaned back against my hands.

Chaos chuckled, _**you must be exhausted. Get some sleep. I doubt anyone will find us up here. What about the rest of them?**_

_Why worry… _I muttered as my fatigue threatened to consume me.

_**Sleep you idiot**_, he ordered.

I sighed and yawned. This day had been utterly confusing, Cloud, the mouse, and the kid who had called him king. What sort of strange Wonderland had I wandered into? I shook my head and soon drifted off to sleep.

cccccccccc

From a platform overlooking the clock face, a hooded figure watched the sleeping person in red. The hooded figure clenched the pipe, "Vincent." The figure's quiet, faintly feminine voice whispered painfully.

Another figured appeared behind the first, "there you are Xion. You gave me one helluva time finding you."

Xion flinched and backed off, "Axel!"

Axel grabbed her by the arm, "come on you, let's get back."

"No please!" Xion tried to escape but Axel dragged her off.


	2. Rondo

**A/N:**Thank you for the kind welcome, and Bjanik-chan, read on to find out what the mouse threw at Vincent's head.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, if I did, then Rikuplica 4 would be a far easier boss fight.**

---

I woke up the next morning and yawned slightly. I had desperately needed that more than I thought. The small door out to the clock face opened up, I slipped outside and stared out to the town below me. I sat down on the ledge and thought for a long while. What had happened to the rest of our team? Our world? And… the one who I held above all else. Lucrecia Crescent, what became of her?

_**Tick Tock Vinny. Why don't you see what that mouse gave us? **_Chaos yawned and rolled over in his mental sleep.

_I suppose you're right,_ I pulled out the small bag from the pocket I had stowed it in. As the drawstrings let the bag open, a small stream of coins spilled into my palm. Numbered amounts appeared on the coins as they glinted in the sun, I assumed this to be Munny. I now had currency, now what to do? Take the train, get out of town and try and get back home.

As I stood up to depart, "hey wait up a moment!" I heard the voice of the young man from yesterday.

"If you have something to say," I muttered as I drew my gun, Cerberus, "say it. Otherwise stay away from me."

"Calm down, after all we're both on the same side. I lost my world to the Heartless too, I know how you feel man," he replied.

"Don't follow me, unless you want to end up dead," I growled slightly, feeling Chaos rearing his head.

"Here," he pressed a ticket towards me. "You'll need it."

I seized it while frowning at him, "what's your name again?" My instincts told me we would meet up again.

"Riku, it's a pleasure to meet you at long last, Vincent Valentine." He seemed to smile under the hood he had pulled over his face. "I have to go. But listen, meet me at the old mansion at the far side of town, we need to talk." He turned and vanished in a flare of darkness.

At that moment my battle instincts went off, I whirled around and saw a large silver beast moving towards me. I dodged out of the way, and took off at a sprint down the side of the building. The silver beasts slithered down after me, I touched down on the ground and found a deserted area. The silver creatures writhed around, claws lashing out towards me. From several pools of light came a new pack of beings, these ones had massive forearms with blades along them. I drew Cerberus and shot at one of them, but it dove into the ground and started to swim towards me. The thing's arms unfurled and started to slash, I blocked a swipe with my left arm. The large spines froze and the beast flew into the air, as thought it had been stunned. I shot it. The thing dissolved in a series of thin tendrils, completely destroyed. One of the clawed and zipper mouthed ones flew forward, the long, glinting talons moved in a whirlwind. I spun around and shot it.

The zippered one vanished in the same way, I dodged a third one and reloaded my gun. At that moment the strange creatures called off the attack, and if they had a recognizable face I'm sure they would have worn a look of utter shock. "Alright Vince, just what I'd expect from my buddy!"

A scowl broke out on my face. I knew that voice, "Reno!" I snarled as I faced a cloaked and hooded figure. Honestly, did everyone in this world dress in the same outfit?

"Reno? Close but no, name's Axel, A-X-E-L," the figure pulled back his hood. "Got it memorized?"

I frowned, Axel's hair was still red and spiky, but there was no ponytail. His red scar shaped tattoos had been replaced with a pair of black triangular ones. "What do you want?"

"I want what you want, answers. All you have to do is come with me, back to the Organization, O-R-G-A-N-"

"I get the picture," I grumbled.

"Calm down, all you have to do is come with me," he gave me the same grin as Reno used to whenever I would walk into something stupid.

"No," I stated.

"You're not gonna make this easy are ya? Ah well, it was your own fault." He snapped his fingers and summoned a wall of fire around us. I pointed Cerberus at him.

"If you wish to fight me, then I can make no assurances you will live." I shot at him; he leaped back and disappeared into the wall of fire.

"Temper, temper, now I remember why we didn't get along," I heard him laugh from somewhere.

I spun around and shot a slight ripple of red from behind the curtain of flames. When I shot though, he attacked from a completely different direction. A large wheel of fire flew forward, I avoided it, but my gun wasn't so fortunate. The barrel clattered to the ground, the metal still smoldered from the heat. I frowned and dove as a second flaming wheel flew for my head, clearly I couldn't rely on my gun anymore.

"What's the matter Vinny? You're moving slow as a snail right now!" Axel taunted from the safety of his hidden position.

I frowned; this would not end well if even one of those attacks hit me. I had no cover, and practically no room to move through the area. Why was this pyromaniac after me? More importantly, what information did he have that I had just refused?

_**Maybe I can help? After all, you're weapon's shot. And the way you're staggering about, I bet you won't last another five minutes.**_ Chaos noted.

_Grr,_ I hated submitting to his ideas, _fine. But no harming civilians. If you do, you will answer to me._

He sighed, _**fine, fine, whatever.**_

I released my control on my body, in effect, I fell asleep. For when one sleeps one's body, heart, and soul become separate. I passed Chaos as he gained control over my body, he smirked, fangs gleaming. Whatever he did, I hoped I wouldn't be blamed for it in the long run.

My mind reeled with thoughts, but the ones that surfaced as I plunged into deeper into sleep were those of my family. Peculiar, my family had been dead for years, and I hadn't thought about them for some time. Too many tragedies had been set in motion since those days. My father, Grimoire Valentine, was an archaeo-palentologist researching some ancient beings from what he called the Darkness. He died during one of his research expeditions. My mother continued to raise my siblings and I until the accident, I don't remember much about that day. I'd been knocked unconscious while I was trying to find my family. My brothers and sister had all been reported dead, I was the only survivor. But that was just the beginning of my nightmare…

Suddenly I found myself facing Reno, or Axel, or whatever he said his name was. _What happened? Why did you pull back?_

_**A Keybearer, it's that mouse again,**_ Chaos snarled from the back of my mind.

I gazed around, sure enough, between Axel and I stood the cloaked mouse king. I frowned at the both of them, "what?"

"Oh-ho! This is interesting!" Axel exclaimed as the mouse pointed the biggest key I've ever seen at him. "Hey Valentine!" He addressed me, "here's our card in case you ever want to call!" He threw a strange card at my head.

I caught it and glared at him as he disappeared into a pool of darkness, I frowned even more as I studied the card. The picture on the front was a strange insignia, the bottom part looked like a heart with two slices cut out while it had been turned upside down and stuck to a cross with parts missing from it too. I flipped the card over, only to find the aquamarine backing with a heart and a crown on it.

"That was close, you really need to be more careful," the mouse turned around.

"Who are you?" I demanded, my fingers reached for my gun, but then I remembered that my faithful gun had died in combat.

"Shh, keep it down! I don't doubt that Axel is still watching us," the mouse silenced me. "Get to the old mansion as quick as you can, we have a lot of work to do!"

My scowl intensified, "why should I?" I'd had very bad experiences in old mansions, and now was not the time to try giving them a second chance.

"Because you're the one they're after, if we go the mansion we can fill you in." The mouse gave a hasty check of the area, "it's passed the sandlot and through a crack in the wall. Hurry up! I'll meet you over there."

I sighed, call it my caring and honest Turk nature. Part of me just wanted to go follow him, shit, why did I want to follow him? For all I knew, Axel was the one I should trust and this mouse and his friend Riku would be trouble. What would my friends say? I pondered for a moment, and asked Chaos. _Who should I go with?_

_**Keybearer… the death of all Heartless and Nobodies… Nobodies… just like you… **_He hissed and I felt a tumult of anger wash around in my head. _**The Keyblade… a weapon unlike any other, follow the Keybearer, should he be misguided in his quest, we'll take it.**_

_I see…_ I had no idea what most of that meant, but it was the mouse or Reno. And I found the mouse to be far more agreeable than Reno. "Fair enough," I muttered and walked through the alleyway. I was no closer to any answers than I was yesterday, and now I found myself trusting talking mice, and Reno's long lost twin brother trying to turn me into barbecue. Fantastic…


	3. Duet

**A/N:** Man this took a fair bit of work to get done. I got side tracked with my Junior Thesis research but I decided to post while I took a break.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Kingdom Hearts.**

I wandered through the sandlot, some kids had started to play with foam bats off to the side, yelling and screaming. Hopefully those silver things wouldn't bother to attack with them around, which would spare me a moment of peace. I walked along another side street until I reached the main market, another reassuring place full of people. I walked under a bridge for the train tracks while the train passed over my head. I walked up the ramp and glanced around for the wall with the crack in it, as the train passed I spotted it on the other side of the tracks. I stepped across the tracks and walked towards the wall.

Something about this whole town didn't quite sit right with me, why was it perpetually sunset around here? And where did those silver things come from? I considered asking Chaos, but years spent with him taught me that he would talk on his own and never when asked. Slowly I approached the crack, then dove into a roll through it, I could never fit through unless I bent down and twisted sideways. Though when you're six feet tall that sort of thing can be a disadvantage.

The other side of the wall contained a forest, my instincts went on red alert, these woods contained something very large, and very sinister. I didn't want to be around when it came to look for something to snack on. Fortunately the mansion sat on the other side of a clearing in the woods. Not a moment too soon, I sprinted as a loud crash of timbers sounded off to my right. At that instant a group of silver eyeless people, at least ten feet tall emerged from the words. Trailing after the minions was a large silver creature, the scarf looped around its neck twisted and stabbed towards me. My gun was shot and I didn't know how effective Chaos would be against the strange creatures. I spun and started to sprint for the mansion.

The mansion was only a few paces away, but the gate was locked. This could potentially qualify as worse than calling and locking the door on the guest. I sprang into the air, put one foot on the cross bar of the gate, and vaulted over. While I landed on the other side, the large thing after me let out a mournful wail. My head pivoted around to see Riku stabbing into its leg.

"Get inside!" Riku called as he sliced through the leg.

I nodded and ran to the door, just in time since the beast let out a roar and shot off a line of electricity. I dove through the front door, before I'd completely stood up I slammed the door shut. Finally I heaved a sigh of relief, I seemed to be out of danger for the moment. Though I doubt you could call this place safe, the mansion's foyer almost seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Well the mouse said the old mansion. That said this place was still in better state than Shin-Ra manor after I woke up.

"Welcome Vincent Valentine, I see his Majesty, King Mickey has done what I asked of him," a deep voice spoke up from the second floor of the foyer. My eyes darted up to see a person, male by the sound of his voice, with red bandages over most of his face. One gold eye gazed down on me, his expression held pure amusement and curiosity, which masked a sense of near darkness.

"You have three seconds to tell me what's going on," I threatened between my teeth.

"Patience my good man," he replied as he started down the stairs. "My name is DiZ, it was I who summoned you here. You're a very important person, and as such I have a task for you."

Lovely, just what I needed, _another_ mission, some days I hated having a heart. Not this time, I wouldn't be duped like with Cait Sith back home. "Sorry, I'll pass."

"I think you misunderstand, Mr. Valentine, I am offering you everything you desire. You will end up back home, along with your friends, and you may even be free from your other half." DiZ replied as he placed his hands behind his back.

_What should we do?_ I asked Chaos.

Chaos stayed silent for a moment, **_Ask about the Keyblade. Once we know what that has to do with his plans… No just hear him out._**

That sounded about as helpful as sticking my head in a lake, _fine, but why are we doing this again?_

**_Just trust me on this one, you're a smart boy. I'll trust that you can learn about what the Keyblade does. _**Chaos replied as he yawned.

"Fine, I'm listening." I sighed and followed him up the stairs. Why did I have to be such a nice person? When I had been a Turk I could play the bad guy, but when it came down to it I seemed to be too fundamentally nice. My fundamental weakness, I'm such a nice person.

"Please Mr. Valentine, take a seat," DiZ motioned to a chair at the large white table opposite him.

I sat down and placed both my elbows on the table, laced my fingers and put my thumbs – clawed and non – by my mouth. "What's this all about?"

"Someone who arrives out of nowhere bringing waves of Heartless after him is of a natural interest to me. More importantly a human with a Heartless is most fascinating." DiZ's smirk poked through his little mouth window.

I grimaced slightly, "why me?"

"You could say you're of a certain interest to my friends and I. Also to our enemies, we're fortunate that you didn't go after Axel in your encounter earlier. You'll have to be more careful in the future when you decide to go on an escapade." DiZ replied as he took a large envelope out of his large cloak and slid it across the table. "We found these in an archive inside of the Organization's headquarters." I opened up the envelope and pulled out the information. Photos of my family, things about my job, friends, everything.

"How much have you read?" I growled slightly, some of this was very personal.

"Just enough to know what I need to about you. I assume most of this was accumulated by their lesser Nobodies, they cannot distinguish between a photo and the actual person." He replied as his brow dropped while he studied me. "Your unique case makes you a rather particular target for the Organization. If they obtained you then Kingdom Hearts would fall."

"I see…" I closed my eyes, so if the men in black obtained access to Chaos then some place would be in danger. "What's Kingdom Hearts?"

"The heart of every world, all worlds. When your world fell, it was because some man called Hojo opened it up to the darkness. You escaped because the darkness of your friend protected you, but the use of that power sent you into a coma. It's been a year since you last surfaced, Mr. Valentine." DiZ noted as he stood up. "Since then the Heartless within you has protected you as you wandered the darkness. I can only surmise that your reemergence was due to his defeat at the hands of one of the Organization."

"Who are these Organization people?" I asked, this was the third time he'd brought them up.

"They are a group who is looking to find Kingdom Hearts for their own purposes. To that end they are also collecting strong beings to fill their ranks. You would prove valuable to their cause as a Nobody, and both the Heartless you would create and Chaos would be very practical hearts to help open the door to Kingdom Hearts."

I pondered for a moment, I needed to ask this before Chaos woke up, "am I a Nobody?"

He shook his head. "No, not exactly, you were for a time, however you recovered your heart as you floated through the darkness. However you still recognize what it means to be a Nobody."

I nodded, a sense of relief filled my head, I did have a heart, now for a more valuable question. "How do you know so much about me?"

"Simple, Riku and His Majesty had infiltrated the Organization, their information was compiled not only from those databases, as well as a young lady who was recently brought to them. I believe her name is Xion, and she bears a similar resemblance to your younger sister. I think you should talk to her when you get the chance." DiZ pulled open the door, "that is all I wished to discuss with you. You're free to make your own choices from here. However if you wish to infiltrate the Organization or travel to another world, I recommend taking this." He extracted a dark black cloak, in the same style as the Organization's cloaks. "It will protect your body from damage as you wander the worlds. Not to mention it also fits snuggly over anything you're already wearing."

I seized the cloak and threw it over my shoulders, "thank you, DiZ." I pulled the cloak around over my other cloak. Then the oddest part of the matter, my other clothes almost completely vanished, my left arm's attachments still remained to some extent. The zipper rose up to slightly under my neck and the hood pulled over my face. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"Mostly though it's to escape detection by the Organization." He held open the door, "Vincent, remember, they want you. Watch your back."

I nodded and exited the mansion, "of course." He closed the door and I stepped out. The door closed and locked with a faint set of clicks. I walked over to the broken pillars.

"Hey Valentine!" An all too familiar voice shouted out. "Finally found ya!"

I frowned and spun on my heel, "Axel…"

"Bingo." A cloaked figure jumped off of the tower of the mansion and landed close to me. One hand pushed back his hood while the other wrapped around my shoulders. "So you decided to come with us! Great!"

My feet swept around and I moved out of his grip, "no."

"So then you're our enemy?" He continued.

"No." I corrected as I walked away. "I work for no one now." And with that I walked away.


	4. Trio

**A/N: **It took me a while before I finished this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy VII. They are the property Square Enix.

----

I reentered the forest and frowned, clearly this world had none of the answers I desired. _Chaos, is there a way off of this world we could utilize?_

I could feel him yawn followed by a nod, _**All signs point to yes, of course. You've got darkness, use it.**_ With that he yawned and went back to sleep.

Part of my mind kicked me and said I couldn't trust him with this matter, however he tended not to lie if he had said it while still asleep. Still I thought for a moment about how to go through the darkness. Then I remembered Reno, or rather Axel had appeared through a large cocoon of darkness. Strange, though I suppose if that idiot could perform such a task then it would be of little difficulty to me. My left hand rose into the air, I concentrated on replicating the large dark shroud he had created. When I glanced up, there stood the massive, swirling portal. I crossed into it, the scenery surprised me, lots of little heart shaped arrows floated around inside on a blue background as far as they eye could see. I walked around for a moment while I inspected for enemies, I doubted any lay in hiding, but one can never be too careful.

After a short while of perusing through the endless blue landscape of arrows I opened another portal. This one had a large white middle with a dark ring around it, I stepped out through it and frowned accompanied by a grunt of pain. The light stung at my eyes, when they adjusted, I found I had a new perspective than the one my lanky frame typically offered. My vision felt like I had sank to my knees to gaze at something, however I could sense I stood upright. I attempted to wipe my nose to find that rather than a gloved hand, a dark, almost purplish colored, furred paw with lighter colored toes greeted me. When I tried to clench my paw I saw a set of long claws extend from my toes. My weird out factor skyrocketed, this could not be happening. My mouth opened and I ran my tongue over four very long, very pointed fangs. I spun my head around praying I wouldn't find a tail, yet one extended from my back and swished around, a tuft of black fur sprouted from the tip.

Lovely, I was a cat, I wandered over to a small pool of water. The reflection that appeared was that of a black maned cat with a black nose, yellow and red eyes, and long whiskers. I wasn't just any ordinary cat, I was a lion. This could only mean that someone had cast a spell on me. I had to find them before Chaos awoke to ridicule me. Now that the initial shock of my new appearance had worn off I took in the scenery. The narrow canyon had only one obvious exit without scaling the near vertical walls, that would be the way I would go then. I ran out, with some minor trouble at first, whoever designed this form certainly didn't count on precision steering, not like Chaos's form in the least. With some effort through I found that my sliding capabilities allowed for a swifter recovery than a turn.

I continued to trek through an increasingly desolate landscape, massive bones littered the area. Whatever had died here had clearly been massive, and there had been many of them. Why was it I seemed to always end up in graveyards? I thought about contacting Chaos to ask him about this, when a series of mad cackles sounded from the rim of the canyon.

"Hey Shenzi, d'ya think he's a little bit lost?" A rather grating male voice asked.

"Dunno Banzai," a female voice replied. "Ed?"

A stupid cackle came as their response, clearly Ed wasn't the brightest of them. I let out a low growl, "show yourselves." Down from the canyon appeared a trio of dogs, all three of them giggled stupidly. I could see them bare sets of yellowed teeth, their grey fur had been matted by the elements.

"Sounds like the kitty cat's got a temper," Shenzi, who I could now identify by the crest of black fur in the middle of her head. "What do you think Banzai, should we teach the kitty cat what happens when you wander into our turf?"

"Sounds good by me Shenzi, what about you Ed?" I noticed that Banzai had a small patch of stubble on his head and chin.

Ed giggled crazily, I could tell he had cross-eye when I saw him. I frowned and bared my fangs, "back off. I merely wish to pass through this area. I mean you no harm however I will not hesitate should you get any closer."

Banzai giggled as the dogs started to circle around, "wow he sure is brave for a kitten."

My whole body tensed, I sidestepped as Shenzi flew in from behind and I lashed out with my claws. I pushed her away, but then rolled to avoid Banzai, who launched at my side. I kicked my back feet up sharply and launched him into the air. Ed tried to attack head on but I caught him with my front paws around his head and spun him as I rolled onto my feet. "I suggest you don't get up again, unless you want to make me very angry." I snarled at the fallen mutts.

They merely groaned painfully as I took off past them. I didn't feel compelled to finish off scum, that and I had trespassed on their domacile, they had a right to defend it. When I cleared the massive graveyard, what awaited me wasn't much better. The dead, grey earth crunched under my feet, the bare trees creaked and waivered under the sky. This clearly couldn't be a healthy land. I trotted along what must have once been a large field full of green and life. I bent my head down and sniffed along the ground, if any sort of creature had passed this way, it hadn't been for a very long time. My head rose up as a breeze ruffled through the area, I could detect the faint hint of green and growing things. It was off to my right, I sprung and followed it. As I did so the landscape slowly changed, grey rocks and bare trees gave way to tanned and weathered lands and trees held leaves and fruits. I continued to run until I came across a large oasis, filled with plants and, my long ears twitched, water.

I sprinted between the trees until I found a massive waterfall, and next to it, a small brook. My head bent down and I practically snapped at the liquid, grateful as the pristine water ran along my throat. I let out a laugh of relief for a brief moment, I sighed shortly after and gazed around, near the edge of a cliff I noticed a large red lump. My stomach chose that moment to remind me I hadn't eaten since I'd had regained consciousness. And that was yesterday, I crept closer to the lump and pounced. However what I did not expect was that the figure would move and headbutt me in the side. I spotted a pair of blue and white feathers as I collapsed on the ground. The red beast jumped on top of me, and I came muzzle to muzzle with one of my few friends. "Nanaki?" I panted, my chest straining to move as he held his paws firmly on it.

"You know me?" He growled.

"It's me, Vincent," I replied as he backed off. I stood up and he walked around me for a moment, sniffing. I could never get used to his method of greeting, especially with his flaming tail waving in front of my face.

He sat back and then butted me again, much more gently this time, "it's good to see you again Vince!" He declared as his tail started to go back and forth.

I let my gaze drift to the ground and fixed it intently on a pebble, "so… how have you been?" I muttered.

"Well, how have you been, Vincent?" He used my full name as he sat back on his haunches.

I shrugged, "fine… I suppose…"

"You never change Vincent," he replied and stood up. "I had been anticipating something of this nature for some time. However I do not have the strength to combat the malevolent forces that have been gathering in this world for some time now. First there is one thing we must do."

I followed him across the valley to a dead point with a massive black mountain with red lines running all over it. "What's that?"

"A mountain built of corrupted hearts, we must destroy it before it consumes this world." Nanaki replied and glanced at me. "I must repay the kindness this world has shown me, it is a beautiful valley."

I nodded, if Nanaki considered it worth fighting for, then that was enough for me. I let out a roar and summoned up Chaos. _I need your help._

_**Fine, whatever…**_ He yawned, I could feel power course through me from him. However I didn't fully transform, my fur turned purple, but my mane turned bright red. Two horns jutted from my head and I let out a roar, flames whisped around my paws. Nanaki raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

We charged forward, I let out a torrent of fire at the base, and reeled back as the skin tore open. Darkness oozed out of it, I let out another wave of flames into the wound. The mountain shifted, I glanced up to see that Nanaki had latched onto what looked like a head appendage. I clawed my way up and spewed flames as I went, Nanaki flipped over in the air, he used his claws to slow his slide down the mountain. "What now?" I noted, we'd caused damage but nothing serious.

"Tandem limit is our best bet, right at the head," he replied.

Nanaki lowered his head and ran faster, a red energy point began to swirl around him, I let out a torrent of fire at the energy. "Tandem limit, Blood Fire Fang!" We attacked the head straight on, the bits of dark pulsing flesh in the head spiraled apart and incinerated we flew past and landed on the ground. A massive light erupted from the mountain and sure enough it exploded, releasing a group of glowing hearts into the air. I frowned and sat on my haunches as the color of my fur faded.

"You ready to go Nanaki?" I asked eager to leave.

"Yes, I feel that those who rightly rule this world have returned, so we may proceed without worry." He replied.

I turned and summoned a corridor and walked away, Nanaki bowed his head and followed me.


End file.
